[Rd] formals() adds 0 to complex function arguments

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 14-01-19 4:16 PM, peter dalgaard wrote:
> It's not formals() that is doing you in. Rather, it is a conspiration between two things:
> (a) R always displays complex constants as x+yi, even if x is zero and (b) there really is no way to specify complex constants with non-zero  real part, i.e. 1+2i is a sum of a real and and imaginary complex constant. You can see the effect already at
>
>> quote(1+2i)
> 1 + (0+2i)
>
>
>> q <- quote(1+2i)
>> q[[1]]
> `+`
>> q[[2]]
> [1] 1
>> q[[3]]
> [1] 0+2i
>> str(q)
>   language 1 + (0+2i)
>> str(q[[3]])
>   cplx 0+2i
>
> Someone might want to fix this by implementing a full syntax for complex constants, but meanwhile, I think a passable workaround could be

That might be nice to do.  Not sure if it's easy or hard...

>
>> formals(test)$a <- 1+2i
>> args(test)
> function (a = 1+2i)
> NULL
>> test
> function (a = 1+2i)
> {
> }
>
>
> Or maybe, less sneaky
>
> Cplx_1plus2i <- 1+2i
> test <- function(a = Cplx_1plus2i){}

Less sneaky, but a tiny bit different due to scoping issues:  if the 
function happens to assign something to a local variable Cplx_1plus2i 
before evaluating a, the local variable will be used rather than the 
global one.

Duncan Murdoch